Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) on Wednesday said he hopes that high-speed rail (HSR) services would be extended further to make a full loop of Taiwan proper after planned extensions to Pingtung and Yilan counties.
The ministry’s long-term goal is to make the service available around the nation, Wang told Yahoo TV, adding that preliminary work in under way on extensions between Kaohsiung’s Zuoying Station and Liukuaicuo Station in Pingtung County, as well as between Taipei’s Nangang Station and a proposed new station in Yilan County.
Further extensions should be done “section by section” due to high construction costs, Wang said.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp
The ministry in 2019 said it would extend the HSR network from its southern terminus in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營) to Pingtung, expecting to spend NT$55.4 billion (US$1.88 billion) on the project.
The ministry earlier this year also decided on a location for the new HSR station near the Yilan County Government complex, as part of a proposed NT$188 billion extension along the east coast from the network’s current northern terminus in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港).
The two projects are undergoing environmental impact assessments, the ministry said, adding that construction could begin as early as 2025 and last 10 years.
Wang also commented on plans to corporatize the Taiwan Railways Administration by 2024, saying the ministry was open to raising fares once safety and service quality are assured, particularly given that the agency has been running an average annual deficit of NT$5 billion for the past five years.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
RSS